The first nerd

I decided to have some fun with an old computer related picture...

Geekiness

Another blog bumper sticker......

Karl Plesz.... pirate

I currently have many friends with substantial mp3 music collections. I have recently gotten into discussions with some of them about swapping our entire collections using our external hard drives. We're talking about 10,000+ songs being shared between 2 people in a matter of minutes.

Why do I mention this? Because I'm frantically flaunting this capability in front of the music industry's noses. On purpose. Rubbing their noses in it. Not because I'm an asshole, but because I want to make a point. You can sue your customers into oblivion, lobby the government until you're blue in the face, unless you adapt to new technology instead of fight it - you will lose.

CRIA: Here's something for you to chew on - I'm more than willing to actually BUY from an online vendor that sells DRM-free mp3 music files of signed artists to Canadians. Except that none exists! Not one. Wal-Mart, Amazon - all American services only. So if you want to get with some more of my money, find a way to sell me what I want. AAAARRGH!

It plugs in!

I was just watching the Rick Mercer Report (for my American friends - a kind of Canadian Daily Show - but weekly) and Rick showcased a Canadian electric car company, Zenn. Turns out that this car is selling like hot cakes around the world (including the US), but we can't buy them here because of government red tape.

Message to Zenn: I will gladly drive your car and tell the world all about it. Blog, news, papers - they'll all know about it by the time I'm done. Just cut me a good deal, hey?

This is why insurance rates are so high

I just discovered a new show - well, new to me anyway - Canada's Worst Driver.

OMG is it funny. Then you realize that these are real people who use our roads. Then it's scary.

Why do I love geography so much?

I found another decent geography quiz site - Know Your World. I managed 357,279 on my first try. I made it to level 10, then tanked with a metric assload of Africa places (my weakness). Surely my geohound friends will give it a try.........

My debut

Well, that was nerve wracking.

I had my first public improv performance tonight. It was my first time in lights too. It was good in places and not so good in places. Dennis and Andrew (our directors for the evening) were gentle with us - I am so glad about that. So, that's done. Now it's time to try and get selected for a Friday performance. I may even give masks a try. (masks you say? what is this masks thing you mention?) More on that later.

Thank you to my friends who came out, I really appreciate your support. For those that missed - I'm sure there'll be other times. I just won't know for certainty what nights those will be - you know - what with the last minute selection process and all.

Mmmmm.... pie!

I like pie. All kinds of pie. But you knew that, right?

Today, while Darlene and I were downtown, we passed through Banker's Hall on our way back to the car and took a peek inside Sunterra Market. It's basically a gourmet grocery store chain with great home-made stuff in their bakery, deli and hot meal sections. I wanted to see what hot meal special they had and much to my joyful surprise, they had chicken pot pie. I had never tried theirs, but I suspected it would be good. So, with a little drool coming out the corner of my mouth, I convinced Darlene that I needed to have it for supper. The pies were hot, right out of the oven. It was all I could do not to eat it right there, let alone wait until supper time.

When I finally warmed it up and ate it, I was amazed. Real, huge pieces of chicken. Huge chunks of carrot and peas with a sauce that just did its job - to hold everything together. The crust was very flaky, almost like phyllo. It was the best chicken pot pie I've ever eaten.

Smack the Pony! Smack the Pony!

Showcase (the cable TV network in Canada) used to air a British series called Smack the Pony. It was freaking awesome. Think Monty Python if it had only women players. It's that funny. One sample here. Yet another here.

Well, they only aired it once and it was never to be seen again. Unfortunately, this is yet another example of brilliant material that is only available in the country of origin, meaning I cannot buy it here.

Message to Channel 4: BRING SMACK THE PONY TO CANADA ON DVD!!!

New math

13 times 7 is 28.

Don't take my word for it.

You can't use our stuff for free...

It's not the Daily Show. But it's still funny. Because it's by a writer for the show.

Say ha-ha-ha instead....

In what could be the best example of political correctness gone berserk so far, Santas-in-training in Australia were told not to say 'ho-ho-ho'. It might frighten the kids and is too much like 'ho', the slang term for prostitute.

I wish I was kidding.

Thanks to Ernest for this find.

Hit me where it hurts

While out shopping at Chinook Centre (Calgary's biggest mall, or at least its most fashionable), I like to stop in at Williams Sonoma to see if they've got anything out for sampling. Today, I was offered hot cider......... or.................... hot chocolate! DING!

They had a huge pot of the stuff cooking at the back. I had me a sample.

Williams Sonoma are evil. Evil I tell you............

My blog is too niche-ey

If you're on the lookout for new blogs to read, the 2007 Weblog Award winners isn't a bad place to start. 545,446 votes were cast in 49 categories over six days of voting. I was not nominated.

Some day..........

I guess it would help if I linked to the blog awards page, huh?

Allow me to vent

I seem to have entered into a war of wills with my garbage collection service crew. I suffered no garbage collection for 2 weeks just a while ago and had to complain. I was out of space in my garbage cans - I had to do something. The foreman got back to me and informed me that he had collected my garbage and the reason it wasn't collected is because there had been a van blocking access. I knew what he meant because contractors had been working next door and had been parking in the alley, so they weren't lying. But I also mentioned in passing that a single van wouldn't have been enough to totally block access to my cans. Darlene thinks that started a war. This week (week 3) they didn't pick up the garbage again. This time Darlene saw them pass us by while picking up everyone else's garbage. So I called again. I brought up the last complaint from last week. When I got home from work today, the garbage was gone and someone attached a reflective 'garbage' sign on the wooden box our cans are kept in. As if the garbage crew didn't recognize the bin for what it was.......

In the past, they have also been known to not put the lids back in the bin, which of course causes them to blow away when wind gusts come up (which happens a lot in Calgary).

Bastards.

Step one - outfit deck with sound

Now that I have a deck, it's time to start planning for the things I'll need to deck it out (no pun intended) with items to make it an enjoyable, livable place to hang out. Priority number one - tunes.

There were a number of options I could have chosen. I could bring my Macbook outside and use it as a music source. That would need amplified speakers and not exactly be suited to outdoor use. I could use my Zen mp3 player as a source, but would still need amplified speakers. Most of the systems I had viewed in stores were outlandishly expensive and produced crap sound while still being unsuited to the elements.

Then I found this Sony boom box. Styled after a toolbox, it has a radio, cd player with mp3 capability and an auxiliary input for mp3 players. All of its connectors are protected by rubber boot covers. Awesome. The price was right too.

An ad about stiffness

How do you advertise something like Viagra in a place where discussing sex is taboo?

Like this.....

Can you say 'ripoff'?

Ever wanted to know what's inside an Energizer rechargeable D cell battery? Ever wondered why such a large battery has such a low (2500mAh) capacity?

You're not going to like it..............

Goin' to Winnipeg (but not quite)

I posted about the Gimli Glider last year, but just discovered a more detailed story of the mishap - if you're interested in airline close calls.

It won't be long now.....

This is the current snow cover situation for Canada.

As you can see, it's just a couple hours away at this point. And by hours away, I don't mean a storm is brewing - I mean you only have to drive a few hours to see snow. Hell, you only have to look out your window at the Rockies to see it...... but I digress.

I can't say that I'm exactly thrilled.

Where are my brains! Where are my brains!

Take this test to see how open minded you are.

Here's how I did.

Dumb things I have done to try and impress women

• Wrote poetry
• Dyed my hair blond (it came out orange [henna])
• Learnt to dance like a 'brotha'
• Wore goofy clothes during the new wave craze of the 80's
• Put on lots of cologne
• Permed my hair (yeah.... at the same time as the dye experiment)
• Drank a bottle of Southern Comfort, straight, in the hot sun, no mix, no ice

These aren't all the things - just the dumb ones.

"....could lead to uncontrolled sexual impulses..."

Consumer Reports has some fun at the expense of TV ads for medications. In this video clip, they add details about the drug that are..... interesting to say the least.

Attention lawyers.... here's a case for ya

A collection agency is harassing a local consumer about appliances that were bought from Leon's around 12 years ago. Not only is the consumer claiming foul, but the collection agency put a note on the person's credit profile, preventing a mortgage from going through until around $1500 is paid (the original cost). The statute of limitations on collections on credit is something like 6 years, so this agency is abusing their power. The agency refuses to remove the note too. What's even more bizarre is that this is actually a repeat of the exact same scenario on the same appliances from 4 years ago!

If I was the consumer, I would launch a lawsuit, asking for damages in the amount of the house they're trying to buy - especially if the mortgage falls through.

OK.... you've got my attention

There's been a lot of talk about the iPhone in Canada. Not so much about what a great device it is, but more to the tune of "why are we still unable to buy one here?". Apple made a deal with AT&T in the US and rumours abound that it is coming to Rogers cell phone service in Canada - but when? Many people have given up waiting and gone stateside to buy one, bring it back across the border and hack it to make it work on the cell provider of their choice. I would consider doing the same with my provider (Fido), but I'm curious to know how good this device really is. What I'm most curious about is its ability to connect to wi-fi.

Do any of my readers own an iPhone or know anyone who does? Care to comment?

My favourite drink

Another blog bumper sticker for ya.

What band blew you away?

I've gone on at length about the 2 bands that I consider to have pushed the envelope of the music scene in their day - Pink Floyd (then) and Sigur Ros (now).

So I pose this question to my blog readers - what band(s) stand out for you? Feel free to elaborate.......

Name that city!

Sshhhh! If I'm lucky, I've caught my geohounds sleeping or out partying. Here's the latest edition of 'Where Is It?'. Name the city. Click the picture for a bigger view.

Good luck y'all.

[update] It seems I have either stumped my loyal geohounds - or they never noticed that a new edition of the game was posted.

It all comes together

Today was my last (public) improv class. Some people get a little confused when I talk about this class, because there are other 'company' classes that I have mentioned and have access to, but those are private - only open to company members. Although I can attend those, the classes I've been speaking about lately are open to the public and are as beginner as you can get. These classes try to teach you as many improv games as possible in a short period of time - kinda like improv orientation. So my classmates are not all company members.

Anyway, today was the last kick at the cat prior to our performance next Sunday. I felt a little out of sorts after missing last Saturday's class. We played a little with status (one of the hardest things to do - so I'm told), then more or less reviewed what we had covered over the last 4 weeks as a preview of how the performance would go.

So if you're in Calgary and you're not doing anything next Sunday (the 18th), come down to Loose Moose and check out the show. The cost is a nominal $5 at the door and you can bring as many people as you want.

Tell the government what to do!

Alberta is considering a new license plate design. They're also considering whether to bring back the front plate or not. If you want to provide input, go to this site: Consultation on Alberta's License Plate.